The International Center for
Language Studies (ICLS) was founded in 1966 in Washington, DC as a
locally-owned, private organization dedicated to teaching foreign languages and
English as a Second Language. Just steps away from the White House, ICLS
is within walking distance of both McPherson Square (Blue and Orange Lines) and
Metro Center (Red Line) Metro stations.

Since its inception, ICLS has
worked cooperatively with international organizations, government agencies,
private companies, and individual students from all over the world, providing
language instruction in over 80 languages. We train diplomats, government and
military officials, business executives, development specialists, university and
college students, medical personnel, lawyers, judges, economists, and their
families.

Our relationships with
government agencies and international organizations such as the US Agency for
International Development, the United States Information Agency, the Department
of Defense and the International Monetary Fund have been long-standing; most
have been our clients for over 25 years. Our relationships with individuals who
have made language learning a life-long commitment have been just as long.

Licensed by the Education
Licensure Commission of the District of Columbia, ICLS is a founding member of
the Association of Proprietary and Public Language Schools (APPLS) and the
American Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP). Many of the ICLS
staff are members of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
and NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The ICLS Intensive English
Program has been admitted to applicant status and is in the process of seeking
accreditation by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA).
ICLS participated in the nationwide setting of standards for foreign language
instruction and follows the ASTM standard F1562 on Use-Oriented Foreign Language
Instruction. ICLS is authorized under Federal Law to enroll non-immigrant alien
students.

ICLS is located in a
vital area of downtown Washington. It is just steps away from the White House
and a five-minute walk to both the McPherson (Blue and Orange Lines) and Metro
Center (Red Line) Metro stations. Please click here for a map of ICLS' location
in downtown Washington and a link to the metro system.

We occupy three and one-half
floors of a modern office building. ICLS also provides on-site training
throughout the Washington DC metropolitan region and in locations throughout the
continental United States.

The mission of the
Intensive English Program (IEP) is to offer an instructional program of
excellence in English which will enable the learner to speak American English
the way a native speaker does, to understand it with comparable ease, and to
read and write it at a level proficient enough to be able to undertake a
full-time program at an American University and/or other equally demanding tasks
in the learner’s professional occupation.

To this end, ICLS has designed
an integrated curriculum that targets the four skills of the language. The
curriculum emphasizes the development of the English language and the mastery of
its sounds both in speaking and listening. The principle activity in the
classroom involves Induced Discourse, which is a continuous interchange between
student and teacher. New elements of the language are systematically introduced
so that the student learns something new by using them to communicate. There
is constant attention to the development of native-like sounds and an
understanding of the nuances of idiomatic English as it is spoken by native
speakers. The curriculum, including the ICLS developed units which correspond
to the ten levels of the program, is regularly revised and updated.

ICLS emphasizes
productive teacher-student relationships and the fostering of the best possible
learning environment. The IEP employs a carefully selected and highly effective
teaching staff which promotes the philosophy of teaching at ICLS as well as
other developments in the field, by participating in monthly faculty meetings
and ongoing professional workshops.